TED演讲 第17期:为什么我们应该终止禁毒战争(3)

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working hard on the railroads and the mines and then kicking back in the evening just like they had in the old country, 在铁路和矿山上卖力工,然后晚上放松一下，就像他们在故乡常做的那样，

with a few puffs¹ on that opium² pipe, that's when you saw the first drug prohibition³ laws in California and Nevada,  吸上几口大烟，这就是你所见到的第一条禁毒法令出现在加利福尼亚州和内华达州,

driven by racist⁴ fears of Chinese transforming white women into opium-addicted sex slaves. 因为那些有种族歧视的人担心中国人会把白人妇女变成鸦片成瘾的性奴。

The first cocaine⁵ prohibition laws, similarly prompted,by racist fears of black men sniffing⁶ that white powder,  而第一条禁止可卡因的法律，也是由那些种族歧视的人提出的,

and forgetting their proper place in Southern society.  他们怕黑人闻了那白色粉末之后会忘记自己在南方社会里真正的位置。

And the first marijuana prohibition laws, all about fears of Mexican migrants in the West and the Southwest.  还有第一条禁止大麻的法律，同样是源于对西部和西南部地区墨西哥移民的恐惧。

And what was true in my country, is true in so many others as well, with both the origins of these laws and their implementation⁷.  这就是发生在我们国家真相,相信在很多别的地方也同样如此,那些法律的起源和它们的执行。

Put it this way, and I exaggerate only slightly:  换句话说，让我稍稍夸大一点，

If the principal smokers⁸ of cocaine were affluent⁹ older white men and the principal consumers of Viagra were poor young black men,  如果可卡因的主要吸食者都是些有钱的白人老头而伟哥的主要消费者都是些贫穷年轻的黑人男子,

then smokable cocaine would be easy to get with a prescription¹⁰ from your doctor,  那么，你将很容易地拿着医生的处方买到烟用可卡因,

and selling Viagra would get you five to 10 years behind bars.  而出售伟哥会让你在牢里待上5到10年。

I used to be a professor teaching about this.  我曾是个教这方面知识的教授.

Now I'm an activist¹¹, a human rights activist,  但现在，我是一个行动者，一名人权运动的积极分子,

and what drives me is my shame at living in an otherwise great nation, 而背后驱动我的力量，是我的惭愧,我生活在一个原本很伟大的国家,

that has less than five percent of the world's population, 它有着不到世界5％的人口,

but almost 25 percent of the world's incarcerated¹² population.  监狱里却关着占世界总数25%的犯人。

It's the people I meet who have lost someone they love to drug-related violence or prison,or overdose or AIDS. 我遇到这样的人：他们曾因为与毒品有关的暴力事件、监禁、吸食过量或艾滋病，而失去了他们所爱的人。

because our drug policies emphasize criminalization over health.  这都是因为我们的毒品政策它们强调刑责超过人们健康。

It's good people who have lost their jobs,  他们是好人，他们失去了工作、

their homes, their freedom, even their children to the state, not because they hurt anyone 房子、自由、甚至他们的孩子到了这般田地，不是因为他们伤害了谁，

but solely¹³ because they chose to use one drug instead of another. So is legalization the answer?  而仅仅是因为他们选择了某一种药物，而不是另一种。所以，“合法化”是我们寻找的答案吗？

On that, I'm torn: three days a week I think yes, three days a week I think no, and on Sundays I'm agnostic.  关于这一点，我非常为难：每周有三天里我觉得是这样的，还有三天我觉得不是，然后在周末，我是不可知论者。

But since today is Tuesday,  但既然今天是星期二，

let me just say that legally regulating and taxing most of the drugs that are now criminalized, 就让我说：只要合法地管制并对其征税大多数现在被列为非法的精神药物，

would radically¹⁴ reduce the crime, violence, corruption¹⁵ and black markets,  会显著地减少犯罪、暴力、贪污、黑市、

and the problems of adulterated and unregulated drugs, and improve public safety,  以及掺假和不受管制的药物问题，并且提高公共安全，

and allow taxpayer¹⁶ resources to be developed to more useful purposes.  还能使纳税人的资源被投入到更有用的地方。

I mean, look, the markets in marijuana, cocaine,  我的意思是，你看，大麻、可卡因、

heroin¹⁷ and methamphetamine are global commodities markets just like the global markets in alcohol, tobacco,  海洛因和甲基苯丙胺的市场，是全球性的商品市场就跟全球的酒精、烟草、

coffee, sugar, and so many other things.  咖啡、糖、以及许多其他的市场一样。

Where there is a demand, there will be a supply. Knock out one source and another inevitably¹⁸ emerges.  只要哪里有需求，哪里就会有供应。消灭了一个源头，另一个源头还是会不可避免地出现。

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